Chicago

Chicago is a hub for food manufacturing, distribution, and marketing, employing over 130,000 people in over 4,500 companies. Home to many of today’s legacy brands and an emerging startup ecosystem, Plug and Play is bringing its innovation platform to the Windy City.


Following the success of Plug and Play’s Innovation Platform in Silicon Valley, Brazil, and Italy, Plug and Play Chicago will bring together the leading startups, corporations, and investors in food to identify the breakthrough ideas influencing the future of food.

Explore our Food & Beverage videos.

  • Fall Summit 2018: Food & Beverage Wrap Up

  • Spring Summit 2019: Food & Beverage Wrap Up

Our global corporate partners

  • Pepsico startup accelerator
  • Tyson Foods Startup Accelerator
  • Tetra Pak Corporate Innovation
  • Smithfield logo
  • ajinomoto
  • DuPont - Plug and Play
  • ezaki glico - plug and play corporate partner
  • Red Bull - Plug and Play
  • Mondelez International - Plug and Play
  • Lavazza
  • Ocean Spray
  • Hersheys Startup Accelerator
  • Tridon
  • Herdez - Plug and Play
  • Mosaic - Plug and Play
  • adm - plug and play

Our focus areas include:

  • Ingredient Technology
  • Protein Alternatives
  • Sweetener Alternatives
  • Microbiomes
  • Food Safety
  • Track and Trace
  • Inventory Management
  • Food Packaging
  • Delivery
  • In-store Experience
  • Sustainability

Learn more about our Food & Beverage program in Silicon Valley

Learn More

The Future of Agtech

From automation and robotics to connected livestock, discover the next generation of farming

Read the blog series

Explore our innovation platforms.

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